NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – December 1, 2024
The Capitals and Wild each get 10 wins in November, Lightning captain Victor Hedman reaches a franchise milestone, the Blue Jackets trade David Jiricek to the Wild, the Avalanche and Predators swap backup goalies, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Third-period goals within 10 seconds by Taylor Raddysh and Pierre-Luc Dubois enabled the Washington Capitals to hold off the New Jersey Devils 6-5. John Carlsson collected three assists as the Capitals (17-6-1, 35 points) vaulted over the Devils (19-9-2, 34 points) into first place in the Eastern Conference. Devils center Jack Hughes also had three assists.
Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov (NHL Images).
An overtime goal by Jared Spurgeon lifted the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. Spurgeon and Kirill Kaprizov each had a goal and an assist as the Wild (16-4-4, 36 points) moved into a tie with the Winnipeg Jets (18-6-0, 36 points) atop the overall standings. Fedor Svechkov and Ryan O’Reilly scored for the Predators, who dropped their fourth straight game.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Capitals and Wild were the only teams to win 10 games in November. The Jets still hold first overall based on wins. Kaprizov scored his 61st career power-play goal, surpassing Mikko Koivu for the second-most PPGs in franchise history. Zach Parise holds the record with 69.
The Toronto Maple Leafs got two assists from Auston Matthews and a goal and an assist from Matthew Knies to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3. Lightning captain Victor Hedman collected two assists to pass Martin St. Louis for the most assists (590) in franchise history.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Matthews missed nine games with an undisclosed injury while Knies missed two games with an upper-body injury. Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe left this game in the second period with an upper-body injury. Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov missed this game with an undisclosed injury and is listed as day-to-day.
New York Rangers winger Kaapo Kakko scored with 24 seconds remaining in regulation to nip the Montreal Canadiens 4-3. Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist and Adam Fox collected two assists as the Rangers snapped a five-game losing skid. Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Missed calls on both teams sparked criticism of the officiating in this game. Meanwhile, the Canadiens placed forward Rafael Harvey-Pinard on waivers.
The Florida Panthers crushed the Carolina Hurricanes 6-0 to sweep their home-and-home series. Spencer Knight turned in a 20-save shutout, Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist, Matthew Tkachuk collected two assists and Sam Bennett scored for the third straight game.
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and forward Michael Bunting each had a goal and two assists in a 6-2 victory over the Calgary Flames. Alex Nedeljkovic made 30 saves as the Penguins picked up their third straight win. Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri each had a goal and an assist for the Flames, who are winless in their last four games (0-3-1).
An overtime goal by rookie winger Matvei Michkov lifted the Philadelphia Flyers over the St. Louis Blues 3-2. Michkov also had an assist while Aleksei Kolosov made 25 saves for the Flyers, who’ve won three straight to hold the final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbours each scored for the Blues.
The Los Angeles Kings picked up their third straight win by dropping the Ottawa Senators 5-2. Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist for the Kings. Senators center Tim Stutzle scored to extend his points streak to six games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kings center Trevor Lewis left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury.
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, ending a three-game winless skid (0-2-1). Simon Holmstrom tallied twice and Anders Lee netted his 10th goal of the season.
The Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist, Stuart Skinner stopped 27 shots and Kasperi Kapanen scored his first goal with the Oilers, who picked up their third straight win. Nikolai Kovalenko replied for the Avalanche.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Avalanche acquired goalie Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators in exchange for netminder Justus Annunen and a sixth-round pick in 2025. Wedgewood backed up Avs starter Alexandar Georgiev in this game.
The Avs hope the experienced Wedgewood will bring more stability to their goaltending, but he struggled with the Predators after signing a two-year contract with them during the summer.
Four first-period goals powered the Utah Hockey Club to a 6-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. Jaxon Stauber made 29 saves for his first NHL shutout and Nick Schmaltz scored two goals for Utah, ending the Golden Knights’ five-game points streak.
The San Jose Sharks doubled up the Seattle Kraken 4-2 to sweep their home-and-home series. Mackenzie Blackwood kicked out 36 shots and Will Smith scored for the third straight game as the Sharks held off a late rally by the Kraken, who got goals from Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn returned to action after missing 19 games with a mid-body injury.
IN OTHER NEWS…
THE ATHLETIC: The Columbus Blue Jackets traded defenseman David Jiricek and a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Minnesota Wild for blueliner Daemon Hunt, a 2025 first-round pick (top-five protected), a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2026 third-round pick and fourth-round pick.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blue Jackets were concerned about Jiricek’s skating, which is the key reason they were willing to part with the 21-year-old defenseman, the sixth overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. However, the Wild consider Jiricek worth the investment, hoping the big defenseman with the booming shot reaches his potential as a top-four NHL blueliner.
PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: The NHL department of player safety fined Penguins center Evgeni Malkin $5,000.00 for slashing and Boston Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov $5,000.00 for unsportsmanlike conduct during an incident between the two players in Friday’s game between their two clubs.
SPORTSNET: Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury suffered during Friday’s game against the Golden Knights. However, he hasn’t been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Stars.
From what I read on another site Zadorov poked at Malkin with his stick while sitting on the safety of the bench. Zadorov should have had a triple fine and been suspended for 3 or more games.
https://youtube.com/shorts/pwdcUanOSKI?si=5Ri1tsTD7joTFeH4
Here is a YouTube clip of the incident.
What a weiner.
Zadorov instead of hitting players when he is on the bench,he better start by hitting more guys when he is on the ice! At this point he has not played up to the expectations that Boston had for him! Same for Lindholm!
Who is scouting for Boston!
Who is scouting for Columbus! They draft Jiricek with the 6th pick in the first round,and then they trade him because they are concerned about his skating! No wonder Jarmo is out of a job!
You answered your own question. Waddell just showed you how to do it. 5 pieces, including a first and a good prospect, for a guy that is lazy and really doesn’t skate very well. For those those of you in the greater New England area, that’s how you bank draft pick and prospect capital along with cap space for trades down the road.
Pupinabox,time will tell who is right,either Dubas,Guerin or Waddell !
So many teams in need of a quality 2C right now including the Jets. If Kadri and the Flames ever decide to move on there will be a really nice package of young talent heading to Calgary. Love how the Flames have played so far this year but they just can’t score. Dustin Wolf in net deserves serious Calder Trophy consideration so far. Love the way the Jackets continue to play hard and are a really tough out for everyone they play. Is there a bigger soap opera in the league than the Rangers and Drury situation?? Something is gonna happen there soon, so toxic. Enjoy the games today and a Happy Thanksgiving to our friends south of the border!! Cheers
Are you kidding? I love the way Kadri plays, but , he`s 34 and 4 more years at 7 per. That`ll kill any chance of a significant return, unless Calgary`s willing to eat 50% of that contract. If not then it just becomes a salary dump by Calgary and everyone knows the return on a salary dump. If Kadri was a UFA at the end of this year it`d be a different story or maybe if Kadri was on a 50 goal/100 point clip there`d be a GM willing to gamble. That contract will be a hard sell for Calgary
The officiating in the Habs/Rangers game was ridiculous, missed calls, phantom calls that impacted the game directly.
It’s easy to see that was the case but realistically speaking it was the failure of the Habs penalty kill against an anemic Rangers powerplay that cost the game.
Refs have bad games but the team has to suck it up and play through.
And the power play that won NY the game was on an indisputable high stick by Dach.
Lj,just watched the Montreal game and how can you explain how poor offensively the Bruins have been all year and in their 2 games against Montreal they have scored 12 goals?
No way pre start of season would I have guessed that Caps and Wild would be doing this good. I’m not sure they’ll keep this pace up; but wow!
Waddell smokes another trade. This guy is good.
A 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th , and Hunt (3rd rounder in ‘20) for Jiricik and a throw in 5th rounder
Columbus had given up on him; gad publicly derided his abilities and skating and get basically a 5 for 1 swap
For Wild, if in fact Jiricek does end up as a solid 2nd pairing RD then maybe a little overpay. If he doesn’t come around, massive overpay.
If however, Jiricik eventually shines at 1RD (at this point it is a big gamble) then they have a great deal.
Dubas had made it very clear he was smitten with Jiricek. With Guerin paying the above, had it been Dubas, Waddell would have spanked him into
Mcgroarty, Pickering , 1st, 2nd , 3rd
Whew!
For Pens, 3 wins in a row is good to see; but we’re still not making playoffs; and sadly perhaps this now stifles any moves (which are necessary for the team). 😢
Jiricek gets to play 3rd pair minutes behind Faber and Spurgeon. I dont mind the move for either team except the Wild top4 D is solid right now and a depth scorer might of been worth that pick instead?
Carolina had a good offseason in what Tulsky described as a transition year. Unfortunately his failure to address the goal tending position is starting to overshadow the rest of his work.
Most players seem to thrive in rods system
and yes its time to overpay for a goalie or they wont get over the hump
Re Oilers
played really well last night beating the Avs 4-1
Vasily Podkolzin played a Great game last night
Scoring his 3rd goal in 3 games… 👌
He looks like he is starting to settle in to the 2nd spot om RW playing well with Leo at Centre
on his new team,
the other New guy Kasperi Kapanen scored his first goal with the Oilers
Stu Skinner is staring to play really well in net for the Oil…